Everything is A-OK, because I'm strong as an OAK

This week was fun. We found a new person named Debbie. She is so great. She didn't really go to church growing up, but really has a strong foundation of belief of Christ in her life so she is super easy to teach. We taught the Restoration and just was so excited to start on her journey with learning the Gospel and drawing closer to the Savior. We have high hopes for her. We met with Grant and Gavin's mom this week and everything is cool now. They're pretty much going to get baptized as well. Then Thu Ha is going down on March 15th. Then we have a 10 year old who is going to go down in March sometime. We have to figure it all out with his mom. This month was a work month, next month will be a good month. Every month is a work month. 

Look at this freaking dope Polaroid camera I got for 10 bucks at a thrift shop!

Felix and I and a dope flag 

Check out the socks!

I got 99 problems, dunking ain't one of them

Not a whole lot happen this week. Rey got baptized on Saturday. My ride was late getting me and I was an hour late to the baptism. Whatevs. She got dunked and that's all that matters. I was super flustered. S'all good. It was cool to see everyone in MoVal again. I saw my old comp Elder Hughes. He's in my old area. This week was a work week. We met with our investigator named Thu Ha. She was on date for April 5 and that was way too long to wait to be baptized, so we got her to move it up to March 15, which is not ideal, but it's better. She'll go down. It's just making sure she hits her date. Anyway, not a whole lot of stuff going on. I got body checked in basketball this morning, and now it hurts to breathe. Hahaha.

Cody

 Rey finally got Baptized!

Cody and his dork hair cut 

 Fancy socks

Action Bible!

I've caught a cold and I'm super tired. This week was weak. No one came to church and we've been struggin to get to see our people and it looks like Grant and Gavin might not be as promising as we first hoped. But it's all good. We'll just keep slamming it and doing what we do. I go home one year from now. That's crazy. I hit my year mark this Thursday. It's been a wild ride and it's gone by super fast. 

Cody didn't have much to say this week, not feeling well.  But the work will continue.. even in Cali, you get sick! 

Elder Felix and I go hard. #OldManSwag

Week 1, New Transfer

This week has been really, really good.  I got transferred to the bottom of my mission to a place called Wildomar. The Wild-O. It's super cool. We live in a barn that's been turned into a apartment, and I live with another companionship. My companion is Elder Felix. I knew him when I was in Woodcrest. We picked up three new people this last week and hit our standard of excellence. It was a really good week. Two people, count it: TWO, people came up to us and asked us to teach them what we believe. So dope. We were hitting up some people on the ward list in this apartment complex and this kid passed us as we were knocking on the door. So we doubled back and knocked on his door to ask him if he knew his neighbors across the way and he said no. So we asked if he wanted to learn the gospel and he said yes. So we went and taught him the next day. Then yesterday we're picking him up for church with our team up and he was like, "Can my twin brother come to?" UHHHHHHH! YEAH! So we brought them and they read so much. His brother, Grant, gave a text book definition of fast and even said that he has been living in a state of apostasy and he's really interested in the church. Lesson: Talk with everyone, regardless of your fears. You never know what could happen.
Anyway,
We'll work hard this week.
Cody

 The kid is still skinny and amazing!

 Hard Style with Brother Hale. Sad they aren't comps anymore :(

 This kid looks more and more like a Mini DelMar everyday!

 Oops! Broked his Glasses... there goes 100 Bucks!

Transfer Time!

This week has been crazy. Transfer calls were interesting. I'm getting transferred to a place called Wildomar (AKA "The Wild-O") It's at the very bottom of the mission. Like there are parts of it that aren't in our mission. Haha. Elder Hale is getting sent to the back half of Riverside, which is dope. I love Riverside. I'm going to miss MoVal. It's been crazy. I'm going to miss how ghetto this place is. But I'm excited to be with Elder Felix. He was in Woodcrest when I first came into the mission. So he saw me "born" into the mission. I love that kid. He's from Brigham City. They're consolidating the Lasselle Ward in MoVal down to one companionship. That's what happened to me in Woodcrest too. Haha. That appears to be a running theme. I'm going to be in car in Wildomar as well. I'm stoked for that, even though I inherited Elder Hall's bike when he went home. Elder Hale is going to be with Elder Williams. He's from Tooele. I didn't know him before the mission, but he's really cool. Rey and Serena were really bent that I got transferred, but it's all good. I'm going to come back for Rey's baptism on the 14th, (Valentines Day baptism, whoooo! And a couple days after my year mark!) I'm excited to get out to Wildomar. I've only heard good things about the ward. Anywho, have a good week.
Elder Greenburg
Holiness to the Lord

Another Baptism coming up!

Rey is on date for Feb 14th. I'll count it as my year mark baptism. I baptized Serena a couple days after my birthday, so things are going well. I told President to leave me here because I want to work with my people, and I like Elder Hale. He reminds me a lot of  Jared. That's probably why I dig him. But other than that, nothing has really been going down too much. The ward council has been my least favorite meeting in the mission and has been since day one. It's so frustrating. Especially since we're revising our Ward Mission Plan and that puts us under a microscope. And people really don't realize what it takes to make all of the things they propose happen. So we'll just hit them up on everything that they want in the Ward Mission Plan and they'll see what it really involves to make it happen. Which means calls every night about team ups, and focus families for our gators, and reports about less actives. They'll get the picture, but that's what it'll get to make it work. They were complaining about Rey wanting to get baptized on a Saturday that is Valentines Day. We told them that her LDS boyfriend from Texas is flying out and has to be back that Monday, so Sunday is out, and the next available date is the 28th, and
that's basically a transfer away, and I am NOT doing that. So they can deal with it. We're bringing someone solid to the ward.
Anyway, thanks Tyler and Allison and the boys for the birthday card. It was really great to see that they signed it themselves. I have their little dinosaur on my desk.

Elder Greenburg

Serena finally got Baptized...Yay!

So.......SERENA FINALLY GOT BAPTIZED! It was great to finally see her take that step. It's been a long time coming. Elder Rampton came back to perform the baptism and it was a sharp reminder of how awkward of an individual he is. My mind must have blocked it out. Haha. It was a great program. She was kind of late to church, but since we have a car we just stopped by and made sure she was coming. She's heard every piece of anti on the planet and had a huge fight with her family the night before her baptism, but she was like, "It's my life and my salvation. If they still want to talk to me afterward, then that's up to them." She is so interested in the temple. It'll be close, but I might be still on my mission when she goes through. She's so solid. Every time she opens her mouth in Gospel Principals, she basically teaches the lesson. It's great. Everyone is like, "Is she a member?" And we're like, come to the baptism and watch it happen. It was so cool. Her and our other investigator Rey have befriended each other. Rey has been struggin to gain a witness of the Book of Mormon and we were really hoping that she'd come to the baptism, but we couldn't take her in our car. So Serena was like, "Well...screw it. I'll just pick her up and bring her." And we were like, "Eff yeah you will!" And Rey was like, "When she got baptized, I almost cried." So I asked her, "Why do you think you almost cried, Rey? What do you think made that happen?" I've been teaching her almost as long as Serena, so we've gotten to be pretty real with each other. She said, "I know that it's the spirit. I haven't felt it like this since I was a young girl with my Grandma." And I said, "What do you think that means? If the spirit is here, what do you think that you should do?" And just left it at that. She's going to get baptized. It's not a matter of if at this point, but when. I told her I'm probably getting transferred in two weeks and to get baptized before I left and she is seriously thinking about it. Hopefully we can make it happen. Either way I'd come back for it. That was this week, along with a chubby Priest taking two mouth fulls of Ghost Pepper Chili Sauce and then hurling his guts out in the back. That was fun. 
Anywho, 

Cody

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"Honk if you love butt drugs" I may or may not have honked

Rey, our other investigator. She and Serena have become good friends. Serena brought her to her baptism and it may have been the key to getting her baptized. She was also creeping in on me

Serena after her baptism. She kept getting really close to me...so I kept scooting away. SHE FINALLY GOT BAPTIZED!

Addisun. He was a mini missionary this last week. He's dope. We're eating with his family tomorrow night.

Elders going home...

This week has been interesting, I suppose. Huge bummer, but Elder Hall went home today. He's had a lot of stress and anxiety and finally just got to a point where it was best for him to head home. I love that kid. He's been so much fun to get to know. But I'm glad that he'll finally be able to be in a place where he can be him without the stresses of missionary life.

Serena came to church this last Sunday, which is good considering that her baptismal interview with President Plocher istomorrow. We're fairly confident (95%) that she'll be ready for this Sunday, considering that we've taught her for 4 months straight. She had expressed some concerns on her end about whether or not she should get baptized, which isn't a surprise. I've answered every question that could be asked by a non-member, multiple times. It was really just her getting cold feet, and we asked her what she thought of it all. She said that she was really glad that she went to church because she felt the spirit through all the testimonies that day. Which is good. Fast and testimony meetings are a wild card for missionaries. Someone will either get up and give a bomb testimony for the spirit to testify of, or they're get up and rant and just drive the spirit off. Sometimes people will get up and say the most insane things. Like how they know the Book of Mormon is true based off of a fortune cookie. Which is fine, if that's what got the witness, but it sounds so bizarre coming across the pulpit. Anyway, she said that the meeting helped put away her concerns and warmed her feet up. She'll go down this Sunday. I'm bummed that Elder Hall won't be here for my birthday. I can't believe I'll be 23. The fettttchhhhh. That's 7 years away from 30. WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?! WHO LET THIS CRAP HAPPEN?!

President and Sister Mullen threw Elder Hall a going away breakfast this morning at the mission home in Orangecrest. The mission home is pretty nice. Modest, obviously. But nice. I haven't been since I dropped McClain off and it was the first time I'd actually been in the house. President and Sister Mullen actually seemed...relaxed. President pointed out that I was the oldest missionary there. Like, how long I've been out. I'm older than President and Sister Mullen. He called me the "Patriarch" of the missionaries there. When did that happen?! I've been out almost 11 months, which seems weird. 

New Years was good. We just hung out as a Zone and played chair soccer and Phase 10. I've never been able to play a full game of Phase 10. I always get to like phase 4 or 5 and have to leave. It's a fun game. How was New Years for everyone?

Reyanna is doing...okay. She isn't progressing the way that we would like. We've been meeting with her for about 3 months or so and she still doesn't have a witness about the Book of Mormon, which is the only thing she needs. So we're trying to find a new way for her to get it. So...praying for that one. She's so close. She grew up Seventh Day Adventist, which is similar in a lot of ways to our theology, so she pretty much believes everything...expect El Libro De Mormon. (dats Book of Mormon to the lame...lamos).

*Slaps hands back and forth* Anyway, give the deets on everyone's drunken apostate New Years parties so I can chastise accordingly.

Luh you...I guess.

Elder C-dizzle G-string. (Guyzzzz, it's okay. I have a black companion.)

The life and struggles of a Missionary!

Sup, 
This week has been...interesting. Full of frustrations. Serena didn't show up to her interview with President Plocher. She missed her one on Tuesday, and then her one on Friday. It was suppose to be at 4 and we called her like 6 times at 3:30 to make sure that she was ready to go, and she never answered. So we called it off for President Plocher and then at 5 she texted us asking where everyone was. I almost lost my freaking mind. I was so pissed off I went and slept until dinner. And we haven't been able to meet with Estavon and Janet all week. Seriously, Christmas is the worst. But it was good to see everyone. 
Anyway, maybe next week will be better.


Cody

Things Are going much better....finally!

We picked up 5 new investigators this week, Black people with face tattoos, Janet and Estavon. We taught them really quick and asked them if they wanted to come to church on Sunday and they said, "Yeah. sure. If we have time." We weren't expecting them to come and then they showed up. It was pretty cool. They're from LA and looking to start cleans. Serena might get baptized this Sunday, which would be really cool, since we have been working on this one for awhile.

We don't know a lot about Estavon and Janet and their family. I don't even know if they're married. Hopefully they are, otherwise we have to get them married before they can be baptized.

Spiritual thought for the week: The word Gethsemane translates from Aramic to "oil press". Gethsemane was an olive garden. When you are getting oil from olives, there are two ways: one way is to put the olives into basin or rut and then use a round stone to go in circles smashing the olives until you get all the oil out. Another way is for the olives to be placed on a stone slab, then another stone is placed on top of the olives and they are smashed. Both ways involve immense pressure to derive the oil out. The Garden of Gethsemane is where the Saviour went when he took upon himself the pain, afflictions, and infirmities of the world (Alma 7:11-13). When he did that, the weight of the sins and pains of the worlds put on pressure, and more pressure, and more pressure until he finally bled from every pore (Mosiah 3:7) and the "oil" was derived. We call this event the Atonement. Through the blood of Christ we can be made better and whole. When we are sent to this Earth, we are going through our own little Gethsemane's. Pressure is added pushing out the worst parts of us and sanctifying us. But unlike Christ, we don't have to do it alone. We have Him and is His Atonement to guide us. .

Love to All,

Cody

As you can see, he is finally starting to come around. He has about 14 months to go and just emailing him, I can tell he is starting to get outside of his head and coming back around. He is enjoying his new companion and hopefully he will be able to get a few of the investigators to commit. If not, He will at least plant a seed for another missionary to finish up the work. Thank you all for your prayers for him.. keep them coming.

Merry Christmas!